A bond story set during a present-day thunderstorm. The memory of a childhood incident surfaces: Caleb locked MC in an attic to keep her safe from bullies who were targeting her. He frames it as protection. She calls him out for his over-protective nature. He promises — explicitly — that the thunderstorm moment will be the last time he protects her that way. The promise is narratively marked as unkept: the same possessive-protection pattern reasserts itself after his return as Colonel, made explicit in the Farspace Colonel outfit flavour text. The attic memory functions as the origin point of the 'protection as control' arc that runs through his entire story.